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Wednesday, November 6, 2013

I recently started attending a weekly Shiur in Missechet Gittin by Rabbi Lau. One of the unique aspects of the shiur is that in his capacity as Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Lau is personally involved in many complex cases involving divorce and is able to talk about some of the extremes that some husbands will go to in order to avoid granting their wives a get. This includes being prepared to sit in prison rather than signing a piece of paper to free a wife they have not been in contact with for several years.
(If you live in Modi'in, I highly recommend this shiur on Friday mornings in Beit Kneset Titura)

Like many people, I have been following the case of Gital Dodelson whose husband, Avrohom Weiss, has refused to grant her a get for several years. (You've probably already seen this article from the New York Post).
(To add insult to injury, Avrohom Weiss is a great-grandosn of Rov Moshe who was the champion of Agunot after the Churban of Europe)

If you are wondering how you can help, the Set Gital Free site recommends writing to Artscroll who are employing Avrohom's father and Uncle who are supporting him financially and emotionally. You should write to Artscoll to express your disappointment that an organization that claims to support Torah Values is employing people who are wilfully abusing a woman in the community.

It greatly saddened me to read that employees of an organization like Artscroll are actively involved in withholding a get from Gital Dodelson.

As an Torah-based organization like Artscroll is no-doubt aware, withholding a get is a terrible perversion of halacha, and goes against many values that we in the Torah community hold dear.

By keeping employees who are encouraging a family member to refuse an Order from Beit Din, and prolonging the unnecessary suffering of a Jewish wife and her child, Artscroll gives the impression that it is not interested in promoting Jewish values, and does not represent the values in the books that it prints.

If Artscroll believes in the values of Torah, I think that you need to show this by suspending Yosaif Asher Weiss and Yisroel Weiss without pay until Avrohom Weiss grants Gital a get without any pre-conditions. Until that time, I will refrain from buying any Artscroll books and will encourage my friends to also avoid Artscroll.

I hope that with your assistance, Gital will be quickly granted her get and will be able to rebuild a life as a member of the Jewish community.